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Symbolism of Lord of the Flies
Character analysis in Lord of the Flies
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Recommended: Symbolism of Lord of the Flies
Lord of the flies In the famous novel, "Lord of the flies", William Golding creates and uses certain symbols to show the darkness in the heart of humanity through the thought of young boys. Symbols such as the pig’s head,the hunters face paint and the beast and allow Golding to show how evil and darkness can take over someones life. Firstly, one of the main symbols of lord of the flies is the pig's head that throughout the novel is referred to as lord of the flies. When the pig is described its creates a graphic image in the mind of the reader the pig's head is described as "dim-eyed, blood blackening between the teeth," and is covered with a "black blob of flies" that "tickled under his nostrils" (Golding,152). This shows that the lord of the flies symbolizes evil and darkness because of how it is described . When Simon speaks to the lord of the flies it tells him, "Fancy thinking the beast was something you could hunt and kill!... You knew, didn't you? I'm part of you?" (p. 158). Shortly after this Simon faints seeing “ blackness within, blackness that spread” (p.159). This can be interpreted as darkness had taken over the whole island and is a part of everyone who is on it. …show more content…
An example of this would be when jack paints his face and suddenly becomes more savage. "He began to dance and his laughter became a bloodthirsty
In his novel, The Lord of the Flies, William Golding uses symbolism to illustrate the theme that darkness of the heart is a trait within all of us- some people fight against it while others allow it to take over.
In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies there are many examples of symbolism. The conch shell represents order, the appearance of the boys represents savagery, and the fire on top of the mountain represents rescue. These examples are all symbols in the book.
For all their differences the Lord of the Flies and Simon have one singular trait in common; they both know what the pig’s head really means for the boys on the island. At first glance, the Lord of the Flies is just a pig’s head on a stick, however it is so much more than that. The moment Jack and his hunter’s kill that pig, a part of them is lost forever and this lost part is their moral sense of right and wrong (149).
Lord of the Flies, a suggestive name for the Devil, a devil whose name proposes that he is devoted to decay, destruction, demoralization and panic, exactly what William Golding had in mind when using symbolism in this novel. The Lord of the Flies (1954), is a novel in which interpretating the symbols are a main key to not only understanding, but also enjoying the novel. After tying many of the symbols together, you can figure out more about what the author is trying to depict, the overall scene.
One of the most important themes running through the whole story in Lord of the Flies by William Golding is the power of different symbols. Golding frequently uses symbolism, which is the practice of using symbols, especially by investing in things with a symbolic meaning. The main point of each symbol is its use and its effect on each of the characters. They help shape who the characters are and what they will be. The symbols weave their way throughout the story and are more powerful than they first seem.
In William Golding's Lord of the Flies, the boys who are stranded on the island come in contact with many unique elements that symbolize ideas or concepts. Through the use of symbols such as the beast, the pig's head, and even Piggy's specs, Golding demonstrates that humans, when liberated from society's rules and taboos, allow their natural capacity for evil to dominate their existence.
One part I noticed was when Simon is looking at the pig head and a bunch of flies start to gather on it then they begin to buzz loudly and then start to attack Simon. “They were black and iridescent green and without number; and in front of Simon, the Lord of the Flies hung on his stick and grinned.” (138) Here is where you see the name, “Lord of the Flies”, being used for the first time. In this scene I interpreted the flies attacking Simon as a symbol of evil in masses attacking an individual. I think the pig head, or “Lord of the Flies”, symbolizes evil because of the gruesome way that it was chopped off and hung on a stick. Its scary, ugly, gross appearance of it also adds to the representation that it is the evil in society, or in a biblical sense, the devil. Also since the flies came from the pig head, or “Lord of the Flies”, they could represent followers of evil or demons coming from the
Golding drives the point that the instinctual evil within man is inescapable. At one point in the book, when the Lord of the Flies is representing all evil, this theory is stated as, "The Lord of the Flies was expanding like a balloon" (Golding 130). Along with this idea is the religious symbolism that is used for ineffectively confronting the evil. At a point in the book, Golding has Simon, symbolic of Jesus Christ, confront the Lord of the Flies. This is a pig's head on a stick that is imagined to talk and represent the evil in all humans. Simon tries to act and spread the knowledge of this evil to others but is killed. This is a direct reference to the death of Christ, alluding to the Holy Bible.
The Lord of the Flies represents evil, decay, and destruction. The symbol of Lord of the Flies is an example of symbolism used to express one of the themes in the book. The Lord of the Flies is introduced on page 138 after Jack and his hunters hunt down a sow, killing it and mounting the head onto a stick. “Fancy thinking the Beast was something you could hunt and kill!” (143). That quote was said by the Lord of the Flies while talking to Simon. The Lord of the Flies here is hinting to Simon that the beast can’t be killed because it really is in ourselves. “You knew, didn’t you? I’m part of you?” (143). Here the Lord of the Flies outright says that the beast on the island is inside of the boys. The symbol of the Lord of the Flies connects back to the theme of the dark side of human nature can cause the downfall of humankind. It connects to the theme because the beast the Lord of the Flies is talking about isn’t real in a sense. The beast is a part of all the boys on the island whether they realize it or not. The beast in the boys is the dark side of their nature. The dark side of their human nature is the reason for everything bad that has happened to them. Their dark sides caused the downfall of humankind on the island; it killed 3 people, almost
These forces are present and very at work in The Lord of the Flies. Sensing this reality, Simon knows that the only thing left to do is to find and face the things that cause the most fear. Simon displays wisdom and courage when he continually tells the boys that there is nothing else to do but to face their fears. When Simon awakens after fainting due to his conversation with the Lord of the Flies, he knows that he must go to the mountain top because ‘”what else is there to do?’” (Golding 145). He is eager to know what is to be so feared after it being revealed, by the Lord of the Flies, that there is evil is inside of them all. This character trait is affirmed in Simon when he has a discussion with the Lord of the Flies himself. Simon learns at this time that the evil that has caused the fall of society was through the Lord of the Flies in all of the boys (Golding 143-144). This encounter can be associated with an occurrence that takes place in the Bible in which Jesus has a conversation with the devil. Connecting these two instances makes it seem as if Simon represents a spiritual figure. Simon does not fear the evil of the Lord of the Flies, but instead faces him, the beast that causes ample amount of fear to the group of boys on the island. Moreover, Simon’s audacity to face the most dreaded evil leads to him being capable to find out the reality of the wickedness on the
The author of Lord of the Flies, William Golding, uses detailed symbolism to show the increasing rate of the loss of innocence and the conversion from civilization to savagery. Since it is only the 4th chapter of Lord of the Flies, the boys have yet to become completely savage and wild. The symbolism shows a glimpse into what is soon to come in the future chapters.
In Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, we find a group of British boys stranded on a tropical island while the rest of the world is at war. Their plane has been shot down and they find themselves without adults to tell them how to act. As they struggle to survive, they encounter conflicts that mirror the decayed society from which they have come. We see Golding's theme come about as we watch the boys begin to lose their innocence and let their natural evil overwhelm their otherwise civilized manner. While formulating the theme of the story, Golding utilizes much symbolism, one of these symbols being the masks, or painted faces, that the boys wear. The masks, and painted faces, became a producer of evil circumstances, give a sense of anonymity, and represented the defiance of social structure.
In conclusion, this whole novel is based on good versus evil. The symbolism in the novel helps to portray that as much as possible, with the conch and Ralph, Piggy, and Simon representing the “good,” and the sow’s head and Jack and his hunters representing the “evil.” One of the main themes of The Lord of the Flies is man’s inhumanity to man. It is also compared to the book of Genesis in the Bible. This novel deals with all the corruption in the world, and no matter whom you are, while reading it, you can always relate it to real life situations.
Imagine a group of young boys who have just crash-landed on a deserted tropical island with no adults or supervision. William Golding showed in his ground breaking novel Lord of the Flies, what may happen in just those circumstances. In his very complicated and diverse novel Golding brings out many ideas and uses many literary devices. Above all others though comes symbolism of three main important objects being the conch, fire, and "Piggy's" eyeglasses. Through each of these three symbols Golding shows how the boys adapt and change throughout the novel. These symbols also help to show each of the boy's ideals on a variety of elements from human nature to society and its controls. All three of these symbols also change and are one of the most important elements of the story.
In Golding’s The Lord of the Flies, he effectively uses many symbols to enrich his message about human behavior. He uses one specific symbol the pigs head as a symbol of the inner beast that lurks within all humans to expound his main idea that humans are fundamentally evil. He argues that human are savage by nature as seen through the boys who revert to barbarism when left to their own devices. Through Golding’s use of the of pig's head he is able to deepen his argument that humans have an innate darker side. This is seen throughout the novel such as when Simon has a confrontation with the pig's head on the stake that says, “ Fancy thinking the Beast was something you could hunt and kill… I’m part of you? Close, close, close!” (Golding 143).